Afghanistan winning the toss and asking Sri Lanka to bat first, blessed rival opening batter Pathum Nissanka with an unbeaten double hundred (210) making him the first islander to achieve the feat in the first ODI played at the Pallekele cricket stadium on Friday.
In the process Sri Lanka made a rousing 381 for 3 in 50 overs that Afghanistan could not chase down after Nissanka playing in his 50th ODI smashed eight sixes to go with 20 fours. He reached his double ton off 136 deliveries.
Nissanka by his monumental feat made the 12th double hundred in men’s ODIs after India’s Sachin Tendulkar raised the bar with the first 200 in 2010 against South Africa.
Nissanka in the process erased a record for the highest individual score made by a Sri Lankan in ODI’s that stood for 24 long years, when he passed Sanath Jayasuriya’s 189 scored against India in Sharjah,U.A.E. He also recorded the most runs scored in boundaries by a Sri Lankan (128 runs) passing the duo of Jayasuriya and Thissara Perera who both held the record of scoring (110 runs in boundaries) earlier. His fine knock also erased the record for the highest score recorded in Sri Lanka, when he surpassed Kumar Sangakkara’s 169 runs scored against South Africa in 2013.
India’s Rohit Sharma has the highest acquisition of double hundreds after making scores of 208 against Sri Lanka, 209 against Australia and 264 versus Sri Lanka in 2014, which stands as the highest individual score in ODI cricket to date.
India has the highest number of 200 run makers in ODI cricket with Virender Shewag, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan joining Tendulkar and Sharma.
New Zealander Martin Guptill, Australia”s Glenn Maxwell and Pakistani batter Fakhar Zaman have also made ODI double hundreds.
Sri Lanka is currently hosting Afghanistan in a three match ODI series.
